


The Ties that Bind

by EaglePursuit



Series: Another Summer's Sunny Days [18]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Dana - Freeform, Lillian - Freeform, Post-Gravity Falls, Returning to Gravity Falls, Short, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25613449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EaglePursuit/pseuds/EaglePursuit
Summary: Part 18 of Another Summer's Sunny Days. Dipper and Mabel are awakened in the middle of the night to come to the aid of their ally, Dana AKA Hecate, who has been detained by her witch coven
Series: Another Summer's Sunny Days [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792519
Kudos: 9





	The Ties that Bind

**Author's Note:**

> Based on: Disney’s Gravity Falls  
> Created by: Alex Hirsch
> 
> Beta readers: my wife & PK2317  
> Art by: KID | @KIDWMA

The Ties That Bind

Dipper tossed and turned. He dreamed he was pushing through crowds of tourists on Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It was nighttime and the sea wind was bringing in a chill. He had been there many times with Mabel and their parents, but this time he was alone and he was looking for someone. He didn’t know who he was looking for, but he sensed it was urgent.

He looked into shops and restaurants and scanned the crowds walking, but he didn’t see this mystery person. He walked all the way to the end of the pier and considered heading back to check at the closest streetcar stop, then turned and noticed the unique double-decker carousel turning lazily nearby to the music of a calliope.

The vintage amusement ride was drawing a packed crowd of curious onlookers and Dipper slowly worked his way through the tourists to the colorful barrier fence that surrounded it. He watched it go around a few times then caught a brief glimpse of a face that seemed familiar in the upper level. He watched for them to come around again and saw a flash of platinum blonde hair.

His search was interrupted by a helicopter that swooped down out of the sky and hovered above the crowd, blinding him with an outrageously bright spotlight. The helicopter seemed to carry a public address speaker and Dipper heard someone onboard address him. “Dipper, wake up. I need your help.”

* * *

Dipper sat up in bed with a gasp. A small, bright light dodged past his nose then settled in the air in front of him. He held his hand up to shield his eyes from its brightness. “Who’s there?”

The voice he heard in response didn’t come from the light, rather he seemed to hear it in his own mind. “Dipper, it’s me, Dana. I really need your help.”

On her bed across the room, Mabel turned in her sleep and muttered, “Dipper, stop reading and go to sleep.”

“Mabel, it’s not me. Da—Hecate is here...Sort of. I think.” His voice betrayed confusion and concern.

She wriggled herself deeper into her nest of covers and said sleepily, “Hecate, please cast a sleep spell on Dipper. He’s keeping me up.”

The white glowing light flitted across the room to Mabel and she heard its voice. “Mabel, wake up and help me.”

Mabel’s eyes shot open and focused on the light. “O-M-G, are you a witch  _ and _ a fairy!?”

They could both hear Dana’s voice now and she sounded fretfully impatient. “No, this light is called a sprite. It’s a visual aspect of my...Never mind, it’s complicated. Can you please get up now?”

Dipper was about to throw his covers off when he hesitated. “Uh Hecate, do you mind sparkling outside while we get dressed?”

* * *

Freshly changed from their pajamas, Dipper and Mabel slipped outside onto the porch, on the side of the Shack away from Stan’s RV. Dana’s glowing sprite was waiting for them, zipping back and forth as if she was nervously pacing.

“So what’s going on here, Hecate?” Dipper asked. “Why are you a sprite? Who did this to you?”

“It’s the Coven.” The young witch’s voice in their heads was cut with a mixture of shame and outrage. “They think I’ve been using my powers ‘too openly’: Mabel’s hair...and the incident with the werewolves…and the gremloblins…and weird books I cleared out of the library’s Archive. They summoned me to the Coven’s sanctuary in a cavern under the forest and bound me with restraints that prevent me from using my magic. I was able to cast one last spell before they restrained me, in order to find you; Spirit-walking. That’s why I’m a sprite.” Her voice quavered with fear. “The Coven Elders are going to convene tonight to determine a punishment for me. I’m afraid they are going to take my powers permanently.”

Dipper rubbed his chin in subconscious imitation of Ford. “You’re incredibly powerful. If the rest of your coven are like you, how will we beat them and get you out of there?”

Dana didn’t answer for a moment, then sighed. “You’ve seen how I prepare my spells. It takes me time to make my concoctions and recite incantations, and  _ I _ set my kit up for speed. You just need to take a witch by surprise. If you can beat her before she can cast a spell, she’s basically a regular person.”

Dipper frowned regretfully. “Ugh. The invisibility blanket would be perfect for this, but I gave it back to Ford after the other night at the army base. It’s down in the lab, and we won’t be able to get in there without waking him up.”

“Well… that’s not exactly true,” Mabel admitted nervously. “I sort of borrowed it earlier tonight to sneak Candy, Grenda, and I into ‘It’s Killing Time’. I kinda left it on the back of the couch.”

“Mabel!” Dipper scolded her. “That movie is rated R.”

She blew a raspberry at her brother. “Duh, Dipstick. That’s why we needed the invisibility blanket.”

Dana’s sprite flitted between them. “Guys,  _ focus _ .”

“I’ll go get the invisibility blanket.” Mabel carefully turned the doorknob and pulled up on it as she opened the door to keep its hinges from squeaking as she snuck back into the Shack.

“There’s something I want to grab too.” Dipper walked around to the front side of the Shack and quietly climbed up onto the  _ Stan o’ War II _ . He disappeared into the cabin, then came back up a few minutes later as Mabel was returning from inside the Shack. He had one of Ford’s ray guns holstered on his hip.

Dana saw the weapon and hovered around it for a second, inspecting it skeptically. “Is that thing dangerous?”

“It can be.” Dipper patted it.

“I may need to get away from the Coven, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t my friends and family.” Dana’s voice was critical in his mind.

Dipper pointed at an adjustment knob on the weapon. “Don’t worry, it’s set to stun. Hopefully, with the invisibility blanket, we won’t even need it.”

Dana led Dipper and Mabel into the woods like a living lantern, guiding them on trails they would never have seen without her ghostly light. They entered the magical part of the forest where the trees grew tall and old, trimmed with bioluminescent mushrooms and the ground was carpeted with a thick, soft layer of moss. Eventually they came to the base of a rocky escarpment, and Dana stopped. The cliff face there was solid rock.

“Okay, put on your blanket and walk through the wall.”

Dipper reached out to touch the stone, expecting a cold, hard surface, but his hand passed right through it.

“This is a back entrance into the caverns. It’s only protected by an illusion. Hurry up!” Dana’s sprite loop de looped to emphasize her urgency.

Dipper and Mabel slipped the blanket over themselves and activated the power switch. To Dana they appeared to blink out of existence. They slowly crossed through the illusion of stone, half expecting to slam into the cliff, but they emerged into a dimly lit passage that had seemingly been bored into the bedrock by magic. The granite walls were polished smooth with no discernable tool-marks. Seams of ore and geological intrusions occasionally broke up the monotony of solid gray. Lamps of green fire were mounted in niches in the walls to provide light. The niches were decorated with the same style of symbols the twins had seen on Clothilde Northwest’s table in the Museum of History earlier that summer.

Dana led them down a series of corridors that became increasingly brightly lit and wider to accommodate more people. They began to pass by rooms branching off the corridors. At first they were unoccupied, then some with witches who could be seen inside. Dana flew up close to the ceiling and dimmed her light as much as she could to avoid detection, while still guiding the twins by speaking into their minds. They had to move carefully to avoid witches who walked purposefully down the corridors.

Mabel peered into one room as they passed and saw Pacifica’s ex-friend Tiffany practicing a spell. She elbowed Dipper and pointed, so he could see too. Across the hall was Sue, the tour guide from the Museum.

They heard Dana’s voice. “I’m being held in a room down the next corridor on the left; third room on the right.”

But they turned the corner and saw a group of four witches in gray robes coming out of the room with Dana’s body floating in mid-air between them. She was dressed in blue jeans and a gray hoodie without her mask, cloak or magic red hair, but her arms and legs were bound in metal cuffs covered with magical symbols. Her brunette ponytail hung under her head as she was transported. “That’s me!” said Dana. “We need to follow me…them. But first, go into the room on the left and get my stuff.” 

Mabel’s eyes went wide when she saw the body of the girl being escorted away and she stifled a gasp. They slipped into the room as directed and Dana’s sprite flitted in a moment later. It was furnished with a neat desk and a set of storage shelves. On one shelf was Dana’s Hecate costume and satchel. “Hecate, I’ve seen you before,” Mabel whispered in the relative safety of the small chamber.

“Yes, yes,” the witch admitted hastily. “I’m Dana. We met at the Summerween party. Please get my satchel from the shelf. I don’t need anything else. Once they get me to the Council Chamber, they will use magic to bring me back to consciousness and I won’t be able to guide you.”

Dipper picked up Dana’s satchel and slung it over his shoulder, then they hurried back into the hall to catch up with the procession, following it into the Council Chamber at a safe distance.

The room was large and perfectly round with a high dome in the middle. The center was separated from the outer portion by a ring of thirteen thick columns of granite that stretched to the ceiling. Each column was decorated with symbols. Aside from the corridor they entered from there were two other exits, one to the left and one to the right. In the center of the room six elderly witches wearing dark red ceremonial robes with hoods sat on high-backed wooden chairs in a row. The four witches that escorted Dana placed her body on a table in the middle then retreated, leaving Dana with the Elders and the two hidden Pines. One of the Elders approached Dana’s body and rested her hand on the young witch’s forehead. She quietly spoke some magic words. Dana’s sprite faded away as she opened her eyes and sat up uneasily, glancing around the chamber, at the Elders, and into the shadows on the periphery of the room.

Dipper and Mabel took shelter behind one of the columns that ringed the chamber. “It’s up to us now,” he whispered.

An Elder, different than the one that woke Dana, stood and recited the charges. “Dana Schertz, daughter of Ellen Schertz and granddaughter of Lillian Schertz, you are accused of treason against the Coven. You blatantly violated the prohibition against practicing magic openly in the vicinity of non-magical people, and you’ve used the divine name of Hecate for evil deeds.”

Mabel patted her sweater by her hip. “I could use my grappling hook to pull her out of there.”

“We could, but everyone would see us and freak out, and she’s wrapped up in those weird shackles. We’d have to carry her out together while everyone tried to find us,” Dipper pointed out. He patted the weapon on his hip. “I could use the ray gun to stun the witches, but I might miss and hit Dana.”

Dana spoke up, “Elder Council, I did what I did to help the people of Gravity Falls. We’ve cowered in fear for too long, when we could have stepped up and used our power to protect our town. We sat in this very chamber and prayed to our goddesses to save us while four brave, everyday people stood up against a chaos demon and defeated it. It was blatant cowardice! And I will not be doing that any longer.”

“Hold on. Dana was able to free me from the gnomes’ ropes with a magic spell. I bet it’s in her spell book.” Dipper felt around in her satchel. There were small bottles and pouches neatly arranged within, as well as her phone and her grimoire. He pulled it out and began flipping through it, squinting in the dim light.

Mabel looked at him skeptically. “Dipper, you don’t know how to do magic.” 

“I was able to raise zombies. I got us into Stan’s dreamscape to fight Bill.” He shrugged.

The Elder who had laid her hand on Dana’s forehead and brought her back to consciousness stood again and spoke tersely. “Young lady, you have laid these accusations against the Council before. Perhaps we dismissed them too hastily. Allow me to enlighten you to certain events of Weirdmageddon of which you were unaware. After we moved the coven-members such as yourself to safety, the Elders went to the Astrid Chamber under the Crawlspace where the ley lines converge. We wove our spells together to reinforce the barrier that prevented the demon from leaving Gravity Falls and destroying our entire dimension. We did not do nothing. We interfered on behalf of the greater good at great personal risk to ourselves.”

Mabel held the grimoire open for Dipper to read as he searched through Dana’s satchel for the ingredients the spell required. He opened each bottle in turn and dabbed a finger inside, then smeared it on the palm of his hand like he had seen Dana do. He double checked the magic words, then took the spell book from Mabel and placed it back in the satchel. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Dana bowed her head. The premise upon which she based her accusations had been rendered false, but she raised up defiantly again. “Then why do we not act to protect the town with our magic every day?”

The Elder answered sternly, “You know quite well why, child. It’s a lesson we teach all of you from the beginning of your training. The world is not a friendly place for a witch. People do not long abide a woman with powers such as ours. We must be judicious and operate in subtlety and secret.”

Dana was given no chance to counter. A grappling hook flew out of the shadows and wrapped around her waist to the surprise of each witch, including Dana. As quickly as it had appeared, the hook yanked her back into the darkness and it was as if she had vanished from the earth.

Under the invisibility blanket, Dipper held the palm of his hand to Dana’s restraints and uttered the magic words she had said when she freed him. The shackles and chains fell away into piles of oxidized particles on the floor.

The six Elders rose quickly. The Elder who had laid the charges against Dana barked an order to one of the others, “Go, sound the alarm. Alert everyone here to search for the escapee.” The lesser member left the room shouting. A moment later, the magical green fire burning in the niches turned red. The other five Elders spread out and began to search the room.

Dana grabbed Dipper and Mabel by the wrists and the three made their way to the exit to the left of the one they had entered, still under the invisibility blanket. “You cast a spell!” Dana whispered with shock.

“Yeah, I told you. I summoned zombies. I’ve done some other stuff.” Dipper whispered back.

“We really need to get to the bottom of that...later.” Dana dragged them into the next room. This room was used to store tables and chairs and various ritual objects for the chamber where Dana had been tried. The only other doorway was on the opposite wall. “We need to go through here.”

Before they could reach the next passageway, one of the six Elder witches walked through it and blocked their escape. It was the one that had woken Dana and shared the account of Weirdmageddon. Up close, she appeared to the twins to be a little younger than Stan and Ford. Her hood was down and her gray hair was tied up in a loose bun. Her face was thin and angular with an aquiline nose and sharp, imperious eyes.

“Here, take your bag,” Dipper whispered and tried to hand the satchel to Dana.

She refused to take it, pushing it back to him. Instead, she ducked out from under the invisibility blanket and confronted the Elder without her satchel.

“Dana,” the old woman spoke, “listen to me. You need to stop endangering the Coven with reckless use of your powers.”

Dipper took Mabel’s hand and they began to carefully sneak around the edge of the room, working slowly between the piles of furniture. Neither Dana nor the Elder looked at them. Instead, they stared each other down.

“I have used my powers for good purposes, to help people,” Dana replied forcefully.

Dipper and Mabel crept behind the old witch then threw their invisibility blanket to the floor, and pointed their weapons at her back. Dana’s satchel fell as well and was hidden under the blanket.

The Elder witch turned her head and looked at them.

“Don’t move, Elphaba! Or you’ll eat grappling hook!” Mabel hissed.

Dipper gestured threateningly with the ray gun. “Let Dana pass.”

Dana moved quickly and held her hands up as she came between the twins and the Elder protectively. “No! Guys, stop. This is my grandmother.”

Her grandmother, Lillian, arched an eyebrow and slowly turned. “Oh, you’ve brought outsiders into the sanctuary to aid you. Dana, you follow one mistake with another. But I know your heart means well. I was not going to let the Council banish you or silence your powers. But if you flee now, where will you go? You could not stay in Gravity Falls. You would be in the outside world all alone. You would effectively be banishing yourself. I beg you, stay and accept a temporary confinement.”

Dana hesitated. “If you ground me, what about my friends?”

Lillian replied, “I am the only one who has seen them. Come with me and I will permit them to find their way home, if done in secret.”

The strong-willed granddaughter weighed her words carefully. “I still want to help Gravity Falls.”

“Dana, we have always helped this town. It is our purpose. But our ways are subtle and inscrutable, even within the Coven. Perhaps it is time for me to teach you more about what the Coven really does.” Lillian smiled. 

Dana sighed. “Fine. I will take the time-out and my friends will go free.”

Her grandmother pointed an old, knobby finger at Dipper, catching him by surprise. “This boy. He carries the mark of the Mother Bear; I can sense it. You chose a good friend to trust, Dana.”

Dana turned back to the twins. “Go now. I’ll be fine.”

Dipper and Mabel put their weapons away and pulled the invisibility blanket back over their heads. They ducked into the corridor, leaving Dana and Lillian alone together. 

It was slow going. Witches moved quickly up and down the passageways, forcing Dipper and Mabel to move to the sides. The twins navigated the twisting catacombs based on vaguely recollected memories of the layout when Dana guided them with her sprite. Eventually, they stumbled upon a different entrance than the one Dana had shown them and walked out into the dark forest.

Dipper looked up through the trees at the night sky. “Well, I have no idea where we are. Do you want to just find a cozy spot and wait until dawn?”

Mabel sighed. “That sounds like a better idea than wandering around the woods the rest of the night.”

They found a tall ponderosa pine nearby and nestled between the roots on a soft bed of pine needles and wrapped themselves with the invisibility blanket for protection. 

“Dip-dip?” Mabel asked drowsily. Despite being taller, she snuggled up against him and put her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

Mabel yawned. “What do you suppose she meant by ‘Mark of the Mother Bear’?”

“I really don’t know,” he replied, but Mabel was already asleep. Dipper stayed awake a while longer, feeling the weight of Dana’s grimoire inside the satchel.

Be sure to read the next adventure:

Language Barriers

**Author's Note:**

> The Vigenere cipher keyword for Scholarly Pursuits is ClothildeNorthwest


End file.
